Isaiah’s Passion – part 3
Isaiah 61-62 (61:3-11)
November 3, 2024
We had a pretty extensive recap this morning, so let’s jump back in tonight.
#1 THE PROPHET’S COMMISSIONING
Isaiah 61:1-11
• We know he was commissioned to preach.
• We know that it was the Holy Spirit who gave him the power to do so.
And we are talking about what he preached.
1) THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION (1)
(1) “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;”
And we could throw the first line of verse 2 in with that too:
“To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD”
Isaiah went to sinners, showed them their sin,
And taught them were forgiveness and freedom was found.
2) THE GLORY OF SALVATION (2-11)
We saw this morning that he also came to proclaim:
“the day of vengeance of our God;”
It is the day in which God judges His enemies
And those who persecuted His people.
It is the day that the martyrs of Revelation 6 are crying out for:
Revelation 6:9-11 “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”
They are longing for this glorious day
In which our God returns in power and justice to judge the nations.
And the interesting thing to us (as we said this morning)
Is that this day is said to come FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE.
Isaiah says that God commissioned him to preach that message of God’s vengeance “to comfort all who mourn,”
He goes on to say it is:
(3) “To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
And we learn something wonderful here about this coming day of glory.
It is:
A DAY OF COMFORT TO A MOURNING NATION (2-3)
So let’s think on that a little bit.
Who are these mourners and how are they comforted?
One set of mourners are those
Who have grieved over the fallen state of this world
And the sin curse upon it and the rejection of Christ.
LET ME GIVE YOU SOME PICTURES OF THEM.
The first picture of this grief is actually from God Himself.
Genesis 6:6 “The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
We read the same of the wilderness wanderings:
Psalms 78:40 “How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert!”
God grieved and mourned over the sinful state of the world which He created.
• It was not pleasant to Him.
• It caused Him to mourn.
And such has also been the case of the redeemed throughout the ages
As they see the growing atrocities and iniquity spreading upon the globe.
Remember when Jacob’s daughter was raped:
Genesis 34:7 “Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.”
• It is a grief over a sinful behavior that ought not to be done and certainly ought not to be tolerated.
THIS GRIEF IS UNIQUE TO THE REDEEMED.
When Jerusalem was at her lowest point of idolatry:
Jeremiah said of them:
Jeremiah 8:12 “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed, And they did not know how to blush; Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time of their punishment they shall be brought down,” Says the LORD.?”
You had people in the city who weren’t even bothered by sin.
But the truly redeemed were, and God took notice of them:
Ezekiel 9:4 “The LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.”
Peter spoke about why God rescued Lot out of the midst of Sodom:
2 Peter 2:7-8 “and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),”
• Lot was grieved by the iniquity of his city.
This is one type of mourning that is being mentioned here in Isaiah.
• These are people who do not love the world.
• These are people to whom the world has been crucified.
• They are not like Lot’s wife, looking back at the world she loved.
• They have left it, they hate it, they are grieved by it.
• The rampant immorality that is spreading.
• Sexual perversion.
• Half of the nation literally fighting for the right to kill the unborn
• Drag queens and the mutilation of children
• Drug trafficking
• Gambling and prostitution and pornography
• The gluttonous lifestyle that lives only for its own pleasures
OUR WORLD IS RIPE WITH THE STENCH OF WICKEDNESS.
And there are those in the midst
Who do not celebrate this decay…they mourn over it.
They grieve over what is celebrated.
They grieve over what is loved.
They are people like the Apostle Paul
Who saw the celebrated sin of Corinth and grieved over it.
1 Corinthians 5:1-2 “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.”
You understand the grief.
It is the mourning of the Apostle John in the Revelation when no one was initially found to open the scroll and redeem the earth.
Revelation 5:1-4 “I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;”
Commenting on that passage, W.A. Criswell said this:
“[John’s tears] represent the tears of all God’s people through all the centuries. Those tears of the Apostle John are the tears Adam and Eve, driven out of the Garden of Eden, as they bowed over the first grave, as they watered the dust of the ground with their tears over the silent, still form of their son, Abel. Those are the tears of the children of Israel in bondage as they cried unto God in their affliction and slavery. They are the tears of God’s elect through the centuries as they cried unto heaven. They are the sobs and tears that have been wrung from the heart and soul of God’s people as they looked on their silent dead, as they stand beside their open graves, as they experience in the trials and sufferings of life, heartaches and disappointments indescribable. Such is the curse that sin has laid upon God’s beautiful creation; and this is the damnation of the hand of him who holds it, that usurper, that interloper, that intruder, that alien, that stranger, that dragon, that serpent, that Satan-devil. “And I wept audibly,” for the failure to find a Redeemer meant that this earth in its curse is consigned forever to death. It meant that death, sin, damnation and hell should reign forever in the hands of Satan.” (sited in: MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Revelation 1-11, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1999, pg. 165)
This is one type of mourner Isaiah mentions.
But for that person Isaiah has good news!
CHRIST IS COMING!
He is coming with “a day of vengeance”
He will crush the sinner, He will purify the world, He will reverse the curse,
And this kingdom will again be glorious!
BUT THAT IS NOT THE ONLY TYPE OF MOURNER BEING COMFORTED:
We are also talking about the recently saved Jew
Who is mourning over his rejection of Christ
And who longs to be forgiven.
Remember Zechariah?
Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
We are also talking about those Jews
Who mourned not only over the sin of the culture,
But they mourned over the sin of their own hearts.
We heard the promise from Jesus in the beatitudes.
Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Jesus referred to those who mourned over sin.
• They were poor in spirit with nothing to offer God,
• It was their sin that caused this
• So they mourned over it.
James told the unrepentant to do the same:
James 4:8-9 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.”
And Isaiah is announcing that those mourners too will be comforted.
(3) “To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
“a garland instead of ashes”
• “ashes” represent mourning, as in those who weep on the ash heap.
• “a garland” was a type of crown.
When Christ returns, all those who mourned over sin
And who were broken over the decay…
He will pick them up and grant them a crown.
They will no longer mourn, they will rejoice.
They will receive “the oil of gladness instead of mourning”
• This is their anointing.
They will receive “the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting”
• This will be their new occupation.
Instead of grieving and mourning and weeping and fainting,
They will be rising and praising all their days.
“So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD”
• They are immovable.
• They are steadfast.
• They are righteous and glorious.
All the chaff has been blown away,
Only they were planted and remain.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.”
Psalms 1:1-6 “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.”
That is what Isaiah sees too.
There is coming a day for all who hate sin and love righteousness
To be lifted up and exalted.
Isaiah 35:8-10 “A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, And the ransomed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
It is the glorious day of His salvation,
When even this fallen world is saved from the sin that is heavy upon it.
Isaiah 11:1-5 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.”
And the result of that day will not be mourning, it will be praise.
Isaiah 12:1-6 “Then you will say on that day, “I will give thanks to You, O LORD; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, And You comfort me. “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” Therefore you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation. And in that day you will say, “Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make them remember that His name is exalted.” Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth. Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
THIS IS THE DAY THAT ISAIAH PREACHED.
It is the glorious day of salvation.
And it is all “that He may be glorified.”
Isaiah preached that day, and we are called to preach it too.
• We remind the world that her rightful King is coming.
• We remind the church that her rightful King is coming.
Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning!
That is part of Isaiah’s message.
A day of comfort to a mourning nation.
BUT THERE IS MORE:
It is more of that glorious restoration
When Israel finally repents and returns.
A DAY OF RESTORATION TO A PRIESTLY NATION (4-6)
The first thing you notice regarding these 3 verses
Is THE REBUILDING of the nation.
But you also notice that all of the rebuilding is being done by the mysterious people known as “They”
• “they will rebuild the ancient ruins”
• “they will raise up the former devastations”
• “they will repair the ruined cities”
This of course fits with what Isaiah already told us:
Isaiah 60:10 “Foreigners will build up your walls, And their kings will minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, And in My favor I have had compassion on you.”
It is foreigners who once desired the destruction of Israel,
Now coming to rebuild her.
Not only that, but they also begin to take care of all the shepherding and farming duties of the people of Israel.
(5) “Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.”
So basically you have foreigners coming in and strangers arriving
To take care of all the day to day tasks for the people of Israel.
• Here, let us rebuild your city…
• Here, let us rebuild your house…
• Here, let us watch your flocks…
• Here, let us work your vineyard…
The big question is, “WHY?”
(6) “But you will be called the priests of the LORD; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, And in their riches you will boast.”
They are going to take care of all the details of life
BECAUSE YOU’LL HAVE A BIGGER JOB.
“you will be called the priests of the LORD”
Do you remember when Israel came out of Egypt?
Exodus 19:3-6 “Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
They were always supposed to be “a kingdom of priests”.
• They were supposed to be the evangelists of the world.
• They were supposed to lead men to a right relationship with God.
The problem is that they did not.
• Jesus labeled them as lights under a bushel.
• Jesus labeled them as salt with no flavor.
And even those who did try to be salt and light
Were such a hypocritical and phony form of it that Jesus said
They made people twice as much a son of hell as themselves.
IN SHORT, THEY FAILED MISERABLY AT THEIR COMMISSION.
BUT NOT ON THIS DAY.
On this day, after true redemption through Christ,
Israel will once again be who they were intended to be.
Isaiah 60:1-3 “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you. “Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.”
Zechariah told us how 10 men will grab the garment of a Jew and say take us to your leader!
It is the coming glory of Israel’s salvation.
When Christ returns it will be:
• A day of comfort to a mourning nation.
• A day of restoration to a priestly nation.
A DAY OF INHERITANCE TO A PUNISHED NATION (7-8)
Here Isaiah speaks of the removal of shame
And the presence of glory and joy for the Israel
When they return to Christ.
(7) “Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs.”
Both analogies are clear to us.
The “shame” is the shame of being deported from their land.
• It is the shame of having the glory of God depart from their temple.
• It is the shame associated with having murdered their own Messiah.
The “double portion” is also clear.
• We remember Joseph, the favored son receiving a double portion from Isaac as he divvied out the Promised Land to his sons.
AND THE MESSAGE HERE IS THAT
God will take this nation that has endured so much shame
While dwelling under God’s discipline, and will equal that in glory.
They have had more shame than any other nation
And they will have more glory than any other nation.
All this when Israel returns to Christ.
And Isaiah has been preaching this!
And then we come to verse 8,
Which is perhaps the most difficult of the chapter.
(8) “For I, the LORD, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their recompense And make an everlasting covenant with them.”
IT WOULD SEEM THAT
What God is reminding Israel of here is His faithfulness.
Because God loves justice,
And because He hates “robbery in the burnt offering”
He was faithful to subject them to open shame.
• And as long as they remain in rebellion, He “will faithfully give them their
recompense”
But He is also faithful to “make an everlasting covenant with them” that cannot be undone.
So it would seem that the reminder from Isaiah is that
You can trust the promise of God
To restore you fully to a double portion.
He was faithful to punish you as He said He would
And He will be faithful to restore you as He said He will.
All this for Israel when they return and trust in their Messiah.
• A day of comfort to a mourning nation
• A day of restoration to a priestly nation
• A day of inheritance to a punished nation
A DAY OF GLORY TO A RIDICULED NATION (9)
(9) “Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring whom the LORD has blessed.”
This represents yet another truth
That Isaiah has been faithful to proclaim to the nation.
Upon their repentance and faith in Christ
Then God will bless them to a tremendous decree.
He will do so by
• Putting His glory back in their midst
• By putting glory upon them
• And it will be a glory so significant that they will be recognizable by it.
I think of Moses going to stand before the Lord and then having to put a veil on his face because the glory was so brilliant shining from him.
This will be Israel.
God will shine upon them.
It was the old famous salutation of Israel.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’”
Israel often quoted that blessing but never received it.
But on the day they return to Christ,
His glory will return and illumine them.
And again, this is what Isaiah has been preaching to the people.
This is what God commissioned him to proclaim.
And finally:
A DAY OF WORSHIP TO A RIGHTEOUS NATION (10-11)
(10-11) “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations.”
This will be their song!
A song of rejoicing and exultation.
Why? “For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness”
Israel can’t sing it today,
But on the day they come to Christ they will.
The nations will marvel at the glory beaming from them
And Israel will say, “It is nothing less than the glory of Christ imputed to me!”
This is the glorious reality of imputed righteousness that we rejoice in.
One day Israel will too, and they will worship Christ forever
For what He has accomplished for them.
They will be like a decked out bridegroom!
“As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland”
They will be like a beautiful bride!
“And as a bride adorns herself with jewels”
And it will all be the beauty of Christ upon them.
And again Isaiah promises that God will cause it.
(11) “For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations.”
Does that sound familiar to you?
Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
It is Isaiah’s way of reminding that God fulfills His promises.
If He says you will be glorified, you will be glorified.
Now, all of this is what Isaiah has been commissioned to preach.
God sent him to a blind, deaf, and stubborn people
That he might proclaim to them
Both the gospel of salvation and the glory of salvation.
THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION IS THAT
• God forgives sinners.
• He heals them of their brokenness
• He frees them from their prison
• He lifts them from their affliction
And Isaiah preached that.
THE GLORY OF SALVATION IS THAT
• God glorifies sinners
• He imputes righteousness to them that is not their own
• He causes His glory to abound on them and from them
• He restores them as priests
• He grants them an inheritance
• He gives them comfort from their mourning
Isaiah preached that too.
And Isaiah was faithful even to a nation
That wanted nothing to do with his message.
THIS WAS HIS PASSION.
And we’ve got 66 chapters here to testify that
Isaiah never waivered from the message.
AND THIS IS AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO US CHURCH.
We have been commissioned to the world.
Might I also remind that we are commissioned also to Israel.
We have a very real interest in the salvation of Israel.
But like Isaiah, we also are commissioned
To go in the power of God’s Spirit
And to proclaim God’s glorious gospel of salvation.
• We don’t get distracted.
• We don’t get sidetracked.
• We don’t improve upon it.
• We just proclaim it over and over and over.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”
Romans 1:14-17 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
THAT IS OUR MESSAGE.
THAT IS OUR PASSION.
ONE DAY CHRIST WILL SAVE ISRAEL.
He will return to restore them and to restore this broken world.
• He will comfort those who mourn
• He will restore them as priests
• He will grant them the inheritance that has always eluded them
• He will restore the glory to them as a people
• He will cause them to worship Him as they have never done before
We look forward to that day!
We hasten it the same way Isaiah did,
By calling them to repentance and faith in Jesus.
ISAIAH DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO THAT CALLING.
What calling is your life devoted to?
This past weekend at Disciple Now we showed those young people the clip from John Piper’s sermon about not wasting their life.
I’m going to close tonight by showing it to you as well.
This is the passion we are called to have.
